SERVICES

All you need to know about our expertise in Women's Health, Fertility & Pregnancy Care

What can we do for you?

We specialise in Women’s Health, Fertility, Pregnancy and Childbirth.

Click read more to view the summary of our Areas of Expertise. You may scroll down this page for more information. For specific question, you may click the Contact tab above to scroll down to our FAQs page for answers or scroll further down to Enquiry to email us your questions.

What is so unique about our practice?

We recognise that good health care in women’s health and reproduction requires an understanding and care from puberty to post-menopause. At any stage of your reproductive life, we can look after you to ensure you know what is best for you and how to plan out your health future so that you can enjoy a high quality of life, overcome health problems / barriers and minimise health-related risks and complications.

We dedicate ourselves to cater for you a care that:

is personalised, comprehensive, objective and evidence-based;

provides choices of management; and above all

maintains continuity of care.

Our specialist is comfortable to discuss with you any concerns regarding period problems, pelvic pain, abnormal PAP smear, pre-pregnancy and fertility issues, pregnancy care and choice of delivery, contraception & family planning, menopause, vaginal prolapse and urinary incontinence. We respect you as an individual with unique sets of values and circumstances, and will endeavour to customise a plan most acceptable to you.

We can also provide you onsite ultrasound scanning so that you can have your ultrasound findings discussed together with the management plan in one session, thereby addressing your concerns promptly and giving you plenty of convenience. We provide this one-stop-shop service so that you can have a piece of mind that our specialist who listens to your concerns, can do the following for you:

All these steps are carried out by the same specialist with the intention that this would help

build a good rapport and a trusting professional relationship;

maintain consistency in your individualised care;

bring in tremendous convenience to you;

provide a holistic and versatile care to meet the dynamic health challenges you may have; and above all,

work towards meeting your expectation and goal.

If more investigations are required, we can organise appropriate imaging and pathology tests which can be done in the same location or at locations most convenient to you.

We don’t embrace a ‘one size fits all’ approach, but rather, we customise your management plan based on your unique set of circumstances and health concerns, while maintaining an evidence-based and benevolent approach so thatyou will never feel like getting a run-around for nothingor a treatment plan less than your expectation. We believe this approach would, in the long run, help you save time and money by customising a treatment package most appropriate and affordable to you. We strive to provide you a high quality, cost effective and individually-focused carethat is also flexible in tailoring to your needs and budget, and that is how we believe could ultimately meet your expectation of a great and warmth care.

We have devised an easy booking process where you can simply contact us by phone or email. We aim to organise your appointment to see our specialist within 2 weeks. You can also read about our booking process in the FAQssection by scrolling your mouse cursor to the Contact tab above (for computer users) or simply tapping on the menu tab on the top right corner of your screen (for tablet users).

At the end of your visit, what we strive for is to see a smile on your face which signifies the warmth and care you have received, the relief from your worry, the realistic hope we bring, and the satisfactory result achieved from the management plan undertaken. Two things sit at the top of our priority – exceptional care and optimal results. As our practice motto goes, ‘we don’t muck around, we make it happen’. Refer to Our Mission and Valuesfor further reading.

Fertility Care

We are passionate to help women / couples who are yearning to have their own baby, realise their dream because we understand that having your own child is a very rewarding and fulfilling experience in one’s life. It is an important part of building a family and passing on deep family traditions and values to the next generation. We also recognise that starting a family requires planning and patience, and often a few simple tips are all that is needed to get you going.

Our focus is to help you overcome barriers to having a baby, with the ultimate goal of delivering you a healthy baby. As part of our ultimate personalised care, we come up with three strategies which we believe are effective in maximising your chances of having a baby.

First strategy is taking steps to avoiding activities which affect your fertility. The most notable regret couples have is delaying childbearing past the age of 35 because of personal and/or social circumstances, and may be because couples thought that modern IVF treatment would simply create miracles. Other known risk factors are physical / emotional stress, obesity, unhealthy diet, over-indulgence in smoking / alcohol, frequent travelling, medical problems and getting the wrong advice! Hence, in your first visit, we shall help you identify and avoid these risk factors through proper counselling.

Second strategy is having a comprehensive assessment to determine the cause(s) which can affect your chances of getting pregnant and having a baby. The most practical assessment is trying to get pregnant through regular intercourse, because a couple would have passed all fertility tests once the woman conceives spontaneously! However, unless you can carry the pregnancy to term and give birth to a healthy baby, there can be underlying problems which need to be addressed. Over the last decade, we have identified many known infertility causes and also recognise that an individual can have more than one infertility problem. Moreover, about a quarter of these couples have male fertility problem. With this knowledge in mind, we would hence encourage every couple to attend the first consultation together in order to receive a comprehensive assessment. This would allow you and your partner become fully aware of the cause(s) and the severity; understand the rationale behind the recommended management plan; and appreciate the level of difficulty you may face together.

Third strategy is going for the most appropriate management plan which should be customised to deal with the unique set of problems you and your partner may have before and during the course of treatment. And here, we emphasize that we don’t believe that every couple having difficulty conceiving needs IVF treatment, unless you have both fallopian tubes found damaged / removed, or totally lost your ability to produce eggs / sperms. After identifying all known factors, you will be given our recommended management plan which can be a few tips to continue trying natural ways; some medications or procedures to enhance your fertility; or IVF treatment if required. Whichever plan you end up going for, you can be rest assured you have the same specialist who will plan your management schedule, monitor your response and guide you through your journey to get pregnant and then have a baby.

For more information on fertility treatment pathways & flowchart, go to our FAQs page; and for general information on IVF, go to our Information page.

Pregnancy Care

We can provide a full range of pregnancy care from pre-pregnancy counselling to delivery. What you can expect is that we give you the attention and the respect you deserve because we understand that having a baby is one of our most important milestones in our lives, and we want to make this a memorable experience for you and your family. Under our care, we shall provide you continuity of care and shall endeavour to attend to your delivery and any unexpected event which may occur during your pregnancy.

Click read more to know about what we can offer.

Once you found out that you are pregnant, we can start the pregnancy care which can include the following:

antenatal assessment and regular monitoring

a range of screening tests for Down Syndrome, gestational diabetes, infection etc;

We don’t believe in a set rules or protocols other than the ones which support your views and are deemed safe and appropriate by the current best practice standard. We encourage your partner / family to be involved so that they understand your feelings and what you have to go through, and in the process, would be able to provide you the support and attention you need, and best of all, be able to be part of your journey and be supportive of your planning and decision making.

We can look after you once you found out you are pregnant and will provide you a pregnancy and birth plan up to your satisfaction. Whenever possible, our goal is to provide you a pregnancy care with the same specialist seeing you throughout your antenatal period, delivering your baby and providing you ongoing support postnatally. For those living far-away from Adelaide city, we can structure a shared-care model with your local doctor. For those who do not have private health cover and cannot afford private hospital delivery, we can provide private antenatal care and organise delivery in your preferred public hospital.

We support delivering babies in hospitals with good facilities and backup to handle virtually any pregnancy-related complications. These hospitals are Ashford Hospital, Calvary North Adelaide Hospital, Flinders Private Hospital, Flinders Medical Centre and Womens & Childrens Hospital. These hospitals are considered the best maternity hospitals in South Australia, featuring excellent labour ward, theatre complex, intensive care unit and blood bank which can cater for any obstetric emergencies.

From a more personal level, getting pregnant and having a baby is a natural passageway of building a family, marking the start of the next generation where you can nurture and enriched your child for the future and passing on family values and traditions. With your best interest in mind, we hope to give you a wonderful and memorable experience, and to deliver your baby in style.

For more information, please click here to go to our Information section and the FAQ section.

Ultrasound Scan

We provide ultrasound scan service for diagnostic purposes like finding the causes of abnormal vaginal bleeding, pelvic pain, subfertility etc; for pregnancy dating and monitoring of foetal growth and well-being. By combining this with our consult, we can discuss with you the scan findings and appropriate management on the same session.

Ultrasound technology utilises sound wave to study the internal body structure, by emitting sound waves and analysing the returning sound echo which bounces back, much like how bats manoeuvre in the dark and how ships detect schools of fish and study the ocean floor. The sound waves emitted at high frequency are beyond our audible range (hence you won’t notice it at all), but can penetrate soft tissue and fluid. Ultrasound is emitted from the end of the transducer / probe, and through the specialised layer of gel, is able to transmit into the body and reflect back as echo which is detected by the transducer and analysed by the ultrasound machine, thereby generating a black-and-white image you see on the screen. Generally speaking, the closer the transducer is to the area of interest, the clearer the images generated.

Ultrasound technology has been around for over 60 years, and scientific and epidemiological studies have dispelled the myth about its potential harmful effect. Unlike x-rays and CT scans, there is no radiation emitted from the ultrasound machine, and hence no associated harmful health risk expected or observed.

Our modern ultrasound machine, Mindray M5, can do the following:

detect structures within the pelvis and uterus as tiny as 2mm;

monitor egg development within the ovaries;

determine pregnancy dates as early as 5-7 weeks from the first day of your last menstrual period;

measure foetal heart rate;

demonstrate foetal movement and position;

measure and estimate the amount of fluid in the womb (so called liquor volume);

measure and estimate the foetal size and weight; and

study blood flow within the umbilical cord;

Utilising ultrasound scan during your visit could assist in making a prompt diagnosis and allowing the opportunity to discuss the appropriate management on the same visit with the specialist who knows your history and who would be taking care of you. This approach not only can avoid unnecessary delay, but can also bring tremendous convenience to you and ensure continuity of care.

A standard scan can take about 20-30 minutes, and you do not need to have a full bladder prior. A diagnostic ultrasound scan often involves a vaginal transducer / probe (so-called internal or vaginal scan) because of the better image quality and hence better diagnostic capability compared to the abdominal probe. Although you are under no obligation to have this type of scanning, this is recommended as part of evaluation of your presenting complaint in the area of women’s health and reproduction. For monitoring pregnancy progress, this is often done with only the abdominal probe. If further imaging test is required, you may be referred to our recommended radiology departments which are located at Ashford or around Adelaide.

Colposcopy

This is a specialised examination of the cervix and lower genital tract using a high-magnification scope (so-called colposcope), and is recommended for women with abnormal Pap smear results or symptoms suggestive of suspicious lesions like precancerous changes or cancer of the cervix, vagina or vulva.

The examination usually takes about 10-15 minutes, and whilst the thought of having this done can be scary, our specialist is trained to provide you this examination in a very gentle and professional manner. You will be resting in a lying down position (so-called lithotomy position) on our special-purpose built gynaecology couch with comfortable headrest and leg support. Our specialist will explain how this is done so that you are fully aware of the process and reasons before this examination is being carried out. You may get further information from the Royal Women's hospital.

Our scope – the Labomed Prima GN colposcope – is a premium high resolution scope which enables clear and precise examination. Presence of abnormal lesions as seen on the colposcope enables our specialist to do appropriate target biopsy for laboratory testing, thereby confirming the type, grade and depth of the lesion biopsied.

Minimally invasive surgery

Also known as the endoscopic or keyhole surgery, this modern surgical technique enables the highly-trained specialist to perform surgery using specialised equipment which can examine (i.e. diagnostic) and fix (i.e. therapeutic) the problem inside your abdomen / pelvis / womb through the genital tract or very small abdominal skin opening, often as small as half a centimetre. Photo / video images can be taken for illustrative purposes.

The rationale for this approach is to minimise the surgical wound, thereby reducing post-operative pain, shortening hospital stay and minimising infectious risk. Many patients after this type of surgery can be discharged home the same day of the surgery, while those having major surgery may still be discharged home within a couple of days. By having less postoperative pain and not being confined to the hospital bed, most patients can recover quicker with better ventilation of the lungs, better circulation to energise the muscles and to prevent blood clots in the legs (so-called deep vein thrombosis), and better mental and emotional state.

During your consult, our specialist will discuss with you the type of keyhole surgery you will be having if surgery is indicated. Most of these procedures are carried out in the hospital theatre under general anaesthetics.

The type of surgery can be one or a combination of the following:

hysteroscopy: a technique using a specialised fine scope to visualise the cavity of the womb, by gently inserting the scope through the vagina and cervix. Fluid / air is run inside the womb to enable adequate visualisation. Abnormal lesions like polyp, septum, fibroid, cancer etc, can be removed or sampled thereafter. Hysteroscopy can be in one of these forms:

diagnostic whereby the cavity of the womb and cervix is examined with/out some tissue biopsy

laparoscopy:a technique using a specialised fine scope to visualise the abdominal cavity by inserting the scope through small abdominal skin openings. To reduce the risk of injuring the internal organs, the specialist will empty your bladder using a soft catheter, inflate CO2 gas into the abdomen to distend the abdominal wall, and insert the instrument under direct vision. The number of skin openings (or ports) will very much depend on the objective of the surgery, the severity of the disease, and the technical complexities. Laparoscopy can be in one of these forms:

tubal ligation whereby the tubes are clipped with special device called Filshie clips to achieve permanent sterilisation

ovarian cystectomy whereby abnormal lesions within the ovaries are removed for further laboratory testing to confirm the type and severity of the lesion

oophorectomy whereby the ovary is removed because it appeared abnormal, e.g. twisted, bleeding, large tumour/cyst; or for prevention against ovarian cancer (e.g. women with hereditary type of breast cancer)

excision of endometriosis whereby abnormal tissues resembling their womb lining can be removed for diagnostic confirmation or therapeutic purpose. Alternative, endometriotic lesions can be destroyed using electrical heating (or diathermy)

hysterectomy whereby the womb is removed for treating condition like heavy / painful periods or suspected cancer. The cervix is usually removed concurrently, while the fallopian tubes & ovaries may be removed after careful consideration. This is considered a major surgery which is performed by highly skilled gynaecological surgeons.

Vaginal surgery

Most problems causing abnormal vaginal bleeding, abnormal PAP smear, vaginal prolapse and bladder incontinence can be managed by vaginal surgery. Compared to abdominal open surgery (i.e. laparotomy), this form of surgery has less post-operative pain, shorter hospital stay and better cosmetic outcome. Minor procedures can be done in our clinic, while more major procedures like hysterectomy and prolapse repair are performed in theatre under general anaesthesia. Click read more for some of the examples of this surgery…

Polypectomy: Cervical lesions like polyps, warts, precancerous changes, erosion etc – a day procedure to remove these lesions can be done either under general anaesthetics or local / paracervical anaesthetic block.

Vaginal hysterectomy: when heavy/painful period is proved difficult to control using medical therapy or Mirena device, the uterus and cervix can be removed via the vagina with/out laparoscopic assistance.

Home

ABOUT US

SERVICES

INFORMATION

FEE SCHEDULE

GALLERY

CONTACT

Disclaimer

This Information Section is intended to provide general information and advice to the general public as well as those who have attended our clinic. The information should never be relied upon as a substitute for proper assessment with respect to the particular circumstances of each case and the needs of each individual.

The information has been prepared / edited by a medical specialist, having regard to general circumstances and reference to current evidence and research available at the time of its preparation. Effort will be made to keep the information provided up-to-date.

It is the responsibility of each reader to have regard to the particular circumstances of each case, and the application of this information in each case. Individual patients should consult their doctor about their health circumstances and the relevance of the information provided.

Whilst we endeavours to ensure that information provided is accurate and current, we take no responsibility for matters arising from changed circumstances or information or material that may have become available after the date of publication.

Useful links are provided for your convenience in gathering more relevant information, and the content published in these websites are not reviewed by us and not necessary endorsed by us. We therefore make no express or implied warranties, as to the suitability for a particular purpose (or otherwise) and accuracy of the information given by any of these websites.

You should consider consulting your doctor / specialist on all matters relating to your current health, fertility and pregnancy.

Privacy Policy

We respect the importance of keeping your personal information confidential as prescribed in the Australian Privacy Principles (APPs) which is in accordance to the Privacy Amendment (Enhancing Privacy Protection) Act 2012 (Privacy Amendment Act). In order to maintain reliable contact with you and to provide you a specialist care at/above the standard quality of care, it is important that we have access to your personal information like your contact details, date of birth, clinical history/record/data etc. This information can be provided by you, your relatives/friends or third parties like the pathology labs, imaging departments, hospitals, health providers, medical defence organisation and other relevant parties, but prior consent from you shall be obtained before we collect / use / keep / disclose / release your personal information. This information can be collected / amended / released in person, or by phone / fax / email / electronic network / mail; and is stored in our local electronic database with secure password and anti-virus software in place to prevent unauthorised access. Our staff can have access to your information as part of their work duties but all of them are subjected to our privacy policy as part of their employment agreement. We do not store your personal information on the internet-based Cloud database or store it overseas unless they come under the Australian jurisdiction or have equivalent law protecting your privacy. Any party requesting the release of your personal information would be required to fill out a Request for Information Form which must contain your signature of approval. We may, at our discretion, contact you to verify the authenticity of this request. A fee for processing this release of information may apply to cover the administrative cost. If required by law, we may have to comply and disclose your information accordingly. Whilst every effort is made to protect your information, we cannot guarantee breach of such protection caused by others with criminal intent. Such matter shall be referred to the police for appropriate action, and you may be notified as well. You are encouraged to notify us of any concern / complaint you may have in this regard, before contacting the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Terms and Conditions

By accessing this website, you are agreeing to be bound by our website Terms and Conditions of Use, all applicable laws and regulations, and agree that you are responsible for compliance with any applicable local laws. If you do not agree with any of these terms, you are prohibited from using or accessing this site. The materials contained in this website are protected by applicable copyright and trademark law.

2. License of Use

a. Permission is granted to temporarily download one copy of the materials (information or software) on Yap Specialist’s website for personal, non-commercial transitory viewing only. This is the grant of a license, not a transfer of title, and under this license you are not allowed to:

i. modify or copy the materials;ii. use the materials for any commercial purpose, or for any public display (commercial or non-commercial);iii. attempt to decompile or reverse engineer any software contained on the Yap Specialist’s website;iv. remove any copyright or other proprietary notations from the materials;v. transfer the materials to another person or “mirror” the materials on any other server; and/orvi. link / share this website with any party / website / program / organization / entity or make comment about the website / Yap Specialist which is deemed by Yap Specialist to contravene the values and ethics of Yap Specialist or bring Yap Specialist to disrepute.

b. This license shall automatically terminate if you violate any of these restrictions and may be terminated by Yap Specialist at any time. Upon terminating your viewing of these materials or upon the termination of this license, you must destroy any downloaded materials in your possession whether in electronic or printed format.

2. License of Use

a. Permission is granted to temporarily download one copy of the materials (information or software) on Yap Specialist’s website for personal, non-commercial transitory viewing only. This is the grant of a license, not a transfer of title, and under this license you are not allowed to:

i. modify or copy the materials; ii. use the materials for any commercial purpose, or for any public display (commercial or non-commercial); iii.attempt to decompile or reverse engineer any software contained on the Yap Specialist’s website; iv. remove any copyright or other proprietary notations from the materials; v. transfer the materials to another person or “mirror” the materials on any other server; and/or vi. link / share this website with any party / website / program / organization / entity or make comment about the website / Yap Specialist which is deemed by Yap Specialist to contravene the values and ethics of Yap Specialist or bring Yap Specialist to disrepute.

b. This license shall automatically terminate if you violate any of these restrictions and may be terminated by Yap Specialist at any time. Upon terminating your viewing of these materials or upon the termination of this license, you must destroy any downloaded materials in your possession whether in electronic or printed format.

3. Disclaimer

The materials on Yap Specialist’s website are provided “as is”. Yap Specialist makes no warranties, expressed or implied, and hereby disclaims and negates all other warranties, including without limitation, implied warranties or conditions of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, or non-infringement of intellectual property or other violation of rights. Further, Yap Specialist does not warrant or make any representations concerning the accuracy, likely results, or reliability of the use of the materials on its Internet website or otherwise relating to such materials or on any sites linked to this site.

4. Limitations

In no event shall Yap Specialist or its developers / suppliers be liable for any damages (including, without limitation, damages for loss of data or profit, or due to business interruption,) arising out of the use or inability to use the materials on Yap Specialist’s Internet site, even if Yap Specialist or its authorized representative has been notified orally or in writing of the possibility of such damage. Because some jurisdictions do not allow limitations on implied warranties, or limitations of liability for consequential or incidental damages, these limitations may not apply to you.

5. Revisions and Errata

The materials appearing on Yap Specialist’s website could include technical, typographical, or photographic errors. Yap Specialist does not warrant that any of the materials on its website are accurate, complete, or current. Yap Specialist may make changes to the materials contained on its website at any time without notice. Yap Specialist does not, however, make any commitment to update the materials.

6. Links

Yap Specialist has not reviewed all of the sites linked to its Internet website and is not responsible for the contents of any such linked site. The inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by Yap Specialist of the site. Use of any such linked website is at the user’s own discretion and own risk.

7. Sharing / dissipation of Information

Yap Specialist provides a shared feature which allows users to send out our website address to the users’ nominated recipients so as to share information of interest. Users are reminded to respect the privilege of using such feature and must not abuse this by making disparaging comment about Yap Specialist, its personnel or information provided. Failure to respect this term would result in immediate termination of the License of use.

8. Use of website’s emails

Yap Specialist has provided an email feature for the user’s convenience in using electronic correspondence. Yap Specialist cannot guarantee the reliability of such feature, and if no response is obtained from Yap Specialist, the user cannot assume successful receipt of the user’s email by Yap Specialist. User is advised to not provide any personal data like bank/credit card detail or health-related information via the website’s emailing system. This website’s emailing system is not intended to replace face-to-face consultation with Yap Specialist’s doctors.

9. Site Terms of Use Modifications

Yap Specialist may revise these terms of use for its website at any time without notice. By using this website, you are agreeing to be bound by the then current version of these Terms and Conditions of Use.

10. Governing Law

Any claim relating to Yap Specialist’s website shall be governed by the laws of the State of South Australia without regard to its conflict of law provisions.